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Legislature sets session to address business concerns
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Posted on May 11 1999
Amid calls by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce to hold a public hearing on the controversial Resident Worker’s Fair Compensation Act, Senate President Paul Manglona and House Speaker Diego T. Benavente have agreed to support the businessmen’s proposal.
According to David Wiseman, chairman of the Chamber’s government relations committee, there may be a mediation session among concerned government officials and the private sector during the session.
The public hearings would help in solving the inequities which will affect the resident workers, employers and even non-resident workers once the law is implemented, Wiseman said.
Earlier, the Chamber and the Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands have asked Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to order the Office of the Attorney General to temporarily suspend the promulgation of the draft rules and regulations of the Resident Workers Act pending inclusion of proposed amendments to the new law.
According to Ron Sablan, president of HANMI, the delay in the promulgation process of these regulations will enable the government and the legislature to work with the private sector in clarifying certain ambiguities.
In a letter to the governor, Sablan said it would be a necessary step in remedying the inequities which the implementation of Public Law 11-74 will create for the resident worker, employers and even non resident worker.
“Unfortunately, the said law is so restrictive that it is very difficult to have regulations that can remedy the situation, but rather can only may mitigate some of the inequities involved,” Sablan added.
The Attorney General’s Office gave the public until May 15, 1999 to comment on the proposed rules and regulations of Public Law 11-74 before these are adopted.
The law, which was signed by Tenorio in March provided that local residents earning less than an hourly wage of $5.15 to receive all benefits extended to foreign workers as mandated by existing laws.
